The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: APO Group and South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) join forces to bring Pan-African sporting content to South African audiences for the first time
Pan-African communications consultancy the APO Group has announced a multi-year strategic partnership with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), providing the public broadcaster with sports content from the whole of Africa.
All video footage and soundbites produced or distributed by APO Group and related to sport in Africa, will be made available to SABC free of charge and for unrestricted news use. APO Group will also provide SABC with access to key stakeholders from sporting organisations in Africa and their associated world governing bodies for interviews and other media opportunities.
APO Group produces and distributes broadcast-quality content for some of the most prominent sporting organisations active in Africa, including FIFA, The NBA, The Basketball Africa League (BAL), World Rugby’s African association, Rugby Africa, Olympique de Marseille, and Africa’s first ever Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Tour team, Team Qhubeka.
“Every day, APO Group carries stories that demonstrate the passion and vibrancy of African sport,” said Gary Rathbone, head of sports for SABC. “This partnership will provide us with new broadcast-quality content that brings more diversity to our coverage than ever before. It is a chance to show our audiences what is happening beyond our borders, and that is really exciting.”
“South African audiences are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about sport,” said APO Group Founder and Chairman, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard (www.Pompigne-Mognard.com). “They have seen their team reach the pinnacle of world rugby, and achieve many other successes at a national level. Now, SABC and APO Group in tandem can bring them the best sporting action the other 53 African countries have to offer.”
People moves
TBWA\Group celebrates signing on ‘force to be reckoned with’, Refilwe Maluleke
Refilwe Maluleke has been promoted to the role of chief strategy officer at TBWA\South Africa. Maluleke takes up the role with immediate effect, while retaining her position as managing director at strategic marketing consultancy Yellowwood.
Maluleke joined Yellowwood in 2016, after having spent the formative stages of her career at Unilever and South African Breweries.
She is a classically trained marketer with vast experience across sub-Saharan Africa, a proven track record of delivery across multiple brands, and strong relationships with some of the best marketers and agencies in South Africa. She has a high-performance mindset, driven by a passion for people and brands.
In her new role she will be responsible for driving strategic excellence across the entire group. She will partner with the group’s regional and worldwide teams in ensuring that the full breadth of TBWA proprietary tooling is embedded across the collective in SA and across the continent. She will do this while ensuring that she uses the practical intelligence and support to ensure that Yellowwood remains at the sharp end of delivering impactful strategies for independent and group clients.
Reflecting on her appointment Maluleke said, “The scarcity of strategy talent presents an opportunity for the Group CSO to be supported by the best strategy outfit available, with a vested interest in continually building strategic capability. A position few CSOs can enjoy in these times. My intention ultimately is that combining the role of CSO with Yellowwood benefit clients, giving greater capacity to resource for strategic depth in the creative world, working harder to align it to what the business and brand ambitions.”
Nick K Rheeder appointed to lead Frame Leisure Trading Marketing
Frame Leisure Trading, the parent company to The Cross Trainer, X Kids, X Trends and The Cross Trainer Edition stores, has announced the appointment of Nick K. Rheeder as their new chief marketing officer. He joins the organisation at an executive level and will assume the responsibility of the group’s marketing functions across all its operations.
Rheeder brings more than two decades of experience in marketing and brand positioning. He has an impressive track record spanning sales and marketing, consumables, fast moving consumer goods, food and beverages and retail. His extensive experience includes working with South Africa’s leading retail and global luxury companies including but not limited to Louis Vuitton in New York. In his most recent role, he worked for Edcon as the head of fashion.
Global Wealth Group’s Chief Product Officer Linden Booth accepted into Forbes Technology Council
Global Wealth Group, a meta-marketplace offering opportunities for investors to crowdfund property, announced today that its head of rroduct and chief product officer of WealthPoint, Linden Booth, has joined the Forbes Technology Council. This is an invitation-only community for respected technology leaders and senior level executives, and Booth was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience.
Chairperson of Global Wealth Group Willem van der Post heralded this outstanding achievement. “We strongly believe in the potential of FinTech and are proud to have someone of Booth’s calibre as part of our leadership team,” he said.
“We are honoured to welcome Linden Booth into the community,” said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Technology Council. “Our mission with the Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world.”
Business moves
Increase resilience for countries, corporations and citizens during Africa Tech Festival
Everbridge is a gold sponsor of the Africa Tech Festival, an initiative which aims to unite business and technology to create a better, more inclusive digital world.
Everbridge provides a critical event management platform that automates and accelerates organisation’s operational response to critical events to keep people safe and operations running, faster.
Register here to attend the Festival free of charge then visit the Everbridge virtual booth to arrange a conversation.
Mo-Sys and Broadcast Solutions Middle East announce partnership at CABSAT 2021
Broadcast Solutions Middle East and Mo-Sys will jointly exhibit at CABSAT 2021, following on from a newly inked partnership deal. Mo-Sys Engineering, a world leader in image robotics and virtual production solutions, will detail how its latest innovations enable both LED and green screen virtual production at CABSAT 2021.
“The global virtual production sector saw explosive growth during 2020, which has continued into this year and shows no signs of slowing down. VP offers incredible value to broadcasters, filmmakers and production studios as we have seen from the rise in VP elements being used in live broadcast,” said Nicholas Hans, founding partner at Broadcast Solutions Middle East. “We are excited to partner with Mo-Sys and bring its market-leading solutions to our customers in the region.”
LOGIC media solutions makes changes to PORTAL Technology: PORTAL.vod becomes PORTAL.clip
LOGIC media solutions is giving one of its frontend solutions for AWS a new name. PORTAL.vod becomes PORTAL.clip. Living under the umbrella of the PORTAL Framework, with PORTAL Technology LOGIC offers frontends and workflows for cloud-based media workflows on AWS. PORTAL.clip is part of a whole suite of frontends for AWS and is already being used successfully by customers.
With the name change, LOGIC underlines the extended functionality of PORTAL.clip. With its intuitive user interface, the frontend makes it particularly easy for users of AWS services to create highlight clips from multiple livestreams and make them available to the system for further processing, e.g. for NLE systems, social media or video-on-demand platforms.
Making moves
Google To Partner with UNESCO To Support Digital Journalism Training in Africa
Google has announced the launch of the Global Initiative for Excellence in Journalism Education to enhance journalists’ training in Africa. The announcement was made during the inaugural Google News Initiative (GNI) for Africa virtual event that started on Monday and ends on Friday.
The initiative to support journalism training will be rolled out over the next 18 months and is being implemented in partnership with UNESCO and is aimed at updating journalism education programmes in over 100 journalism institutions in Africa. (Anyone who would wish to attend the daily 45-minute sessions can use this link.)
Matt Brittin, president for EMEA Business and Operations, Google said, “The pandemic has changed the way people interact with news and accelerated that shift to digital. There has never been a time when access to good quality journalism has been more important. This programme will seek to establish, define, and implement the local definitions of excellence in journalism. We will work with 100 different journalism schools targeting to benefit over 4 000 journalists.”
UNESCO will use its networks of established journalism schools to launch the collaborative programme that will enable journalists to better respond to the major changes in journalism and publishing in recent times. Guy Berger, Director of Strategies and Policies, Communication and Information, UNESCO says, “At UNESCO, we have very different countries as members, with different approaches to journalism — but the one thing that at least they all agree on is that journalists should be well-trained.”
Applications open for Journalism Innovation & Leadership Programme – deadline 30 October
Applications for the Jan 2022 start of Journalism Innovation & Leadership Programme are now open – and the deadline is 30 October for scholarships supported by the Google News Initiative.
For more information, click on the flyer here.
Ogilvy launches the Molefi Thulo Bursary Programme in partnership with The Loeries
Ogilvy South Africa has announced the establishment of The Ogilvy Molefi Thulo Bursary Fund. The bursary will celebrate the memory of industry giant Mo Thulo, executive creative director of Ogilvy Johannesburg, who passed away in August this year.
Thulo began his career as a copywriter in the 2000s. He joined Ogilvy in 2009, eventually rising to become ECD. Over the years he produced some of South Africa’s and Ogilvy’s most awarded work – for KFC, Lucozade, Coca-Cola, DStv, AB InBev, Philips and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, among many others.
He made it to the top of the global ad industry, winning multiple Cannes Grands Prix awards. It is therefore a fitting tribute that the Loeries has renamed its Radio Grand Prix in his name from this year forward, alongside the formation of the bursary programme.
The bursary is a long-term programme designed to discover and support the next generation of industry creative talent. The focus will be on unearthing writers from a similar background to Thulo, who grew up in rural Free State, where opportunities were few and far between.
“We are hoping that Mo’s spirit will inspire a new generation of writers across the advertising industry. He was a magical and nurturing soul. Mo emerged from very humble beginnings to become a force in the industry, winning numerous awards along the way,” said Angela Madlala, chief people officer, Ogilvy South Africa.
The application process for The Ogilvy Molefi Thulo Bursary Fund will be published on The Loeries site (www.loeries.com).
HOT 102.7FM LAUNCHES TEDDYTHON 2021
HOT 102.7FM has announced the date for the 2021 TEDDYTHON FUNdraiser.
“TEDDYTHON raises much needed funds for HOT CARES, enabling them to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those around us,” said Lloyd Madurai, HOT 102.7FM managing director.
“Every year Hot Cares touches as many lives as humanly possible,” says Carmen Rocha, HOT CARES Manager. “We also reach out to numerous organisations who share our vision and passion for making a difference and over the past we have been abundantly blessed by the kindness and generous spirit of individual and corporate donors.”
Hot Cares primary focus is on providing aid for:
- Animal welfare
- Humanitarian
- Education
- Healthcare
HOT 1027 invites you to ‘Plan your Pledge’. If you, your company, or someone you know of is in a position to help in any way, please get hold of us so that we can open the channels of giving and changing lives for the better, together. HOT CARES NPC is a registered Public Benefit Organisation and a Level 1 BBBEE contributor and can issue a Section 18A certificate for all donations (financial and goods) making these donations tax-deductible
To make a once off or recurring donation and for further information please email info@hotcares.co.za.
